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Posted on 08/13/2025 12:55:52 AM PDT by Olog-hai
Kodak announced in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing on Monday that there was “substantial doubt” about the company’s ability to stay in business.
The company plans to pay off some of its debt and preferred stock using money it expects to get back from its pension plan. The company is hoping to change the terms, push out due dates or refinance its remaining debt and preferred stock obligations, which are payments promised to holders of special shares that usually get paid before regular shareholders.
Still, since these plans depend on things outside Kodak’s control, they aren’t considered reliable under U.S. accounting rules. Because of this, there’s serious concern about whether the company can stay in business, as of the date it released its second-quarter financial results, according to the filing. …
(Excerpt) Read more at foxbusiness.com ...
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What’s new about that?
I have to admit that I wasn’t exactly aware that they were still in business. Whenever I happen see one of Kodak’s once-ubiquitous yellow-orange and red signs in a store window or perhaps its film boxes in the window of a camera store, I’ve pretty much assumed it’s just something left over from 20-30 years ago.
Well, we’ll always have Polaroi...oh, wait.
They should have shut it down 10 years ago. What happens with pensions?
If Kodak was smart back in the 50s, it would have put its extensive resources into creating and improving cheap and safe film developing kits for kids up through at least the 80s. Could have had a few generations of kids, parents and other adults doing that as a hobby despite the advent of digital cameras, as opposed to the costly activity that it has always seemed to be. I was interested in it for a while but couldn’t afford Kodak’s film developing materials and equipment. Even in school we were limited to what we could do because of the cost of materials. Kodak would have lost some of its own development revenue but lasted longer.
There is still a company called Polaroid which makes instant cameras. Their cameras are called Polaroid Now. The original Polaroid Corporation went bankrupt in 2001.
Kodak invented the digital camera…….in the 1970s. They figured no one would want it as they’d rather have physical pictures. Then in the early 2000s as other companies were launching affordable digital cameras - Kodak invested heavily in new type of film. They tried to launch a digital camera, but it had a higher price point and was already too late. They went from cutting edge tech to behind the times and failed to adapt.
They can always invest in buggy whips.
Mama don’t take my
Kodachrome away
And here we are
Ah, so maybe the Kodak name will live in another company.
film was a cash cow.....
Didn’t they say digital photography will never work and didn’t change their business plan.
“ Ah, so maybe the Kodak name will live in another company.”
That’s the more likely scenario. A number of well known Japanese brands that had their heyday in the 80s and before suffered that fate. Names bought up by investors or holding companies and used to market something different.
I really enjoyed photography 50 years ago using a very good SLR rig and a collection of amazing quality Canon glass lenses. But every Kodachrome or Ektachrome shot cost $1, so I was always taking care to compose a good shot and asked myself “Is this shot worth $1?”
Today you get 20 shots of your burger and beer for almost nothing.
As I recall, Kodachrome film processing was a proprietary process, it had to be done by Kodak or Kodak licensed developers. You could get their other films processed just about anywhere, or do it yourself if you were so inclined.
I have a Sony A6000, and still try to practice good composition techniques, even with the camera on my phone. I come up with some pretty nice shots occasionally. If I don’t, nobody has to know.
Around 1990 my group was looking at a new product line that Kodak was launching. It performed well but was not cheap. In a review, several senior level engineers visited along with some upper management type. The latter was blunt - “buy our product or these people will be out of work.” Amazing. Well, we didn’t and Kodak shut the line down.
Sadly, Kodak is going the way of Sears.
Sears had the biggest mail order business in the country and could not adapt to modern times. They sold off their most profitable name, Craftsman, and kept their dead weight, which sent them right down the drain.
Craftsman still lives. I suspect the Kodak name will be purchased and also survive.
The old piano manufacturer brands of the West have similarly migrated to new manufacturers in the East.
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